"The March Hare will be much the most interesting, and perhaps as this is
May it won't be raving mad -- at least not so mad as it was in March."

From Wikipedia:

Haigha, the March Hare is a character most famous for appearing in the tea
party scene in Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".

"Mad as a March hare" is a common British English phrase, both now and in
Carroll's time, and appears in John Heywood's collection of proverbs published
in 1546. It is reported in "The Annotated Alice" by Martin Gardner that this
proverb is based on popular belief about hares' behavior at the beginning of the
long breeding season, which lasts from February to September in Britain. Early
in the season, unreceptive females often use their forelegs to repel
overenthusiastic males. It used to be incorrectly believed that these bouts were
between males fighting for breeding supremacy.

Like the character's
friend, the Hatter, the March Hare feels compelled to always behave as though it
is tea-time because the Hatter supposedly "murdered the time" whilst singing for
the Queen of Hearts. Sir John Tenniel's illustration also shows him with straw
on his head, a common way to depict madness in Victorian times. The March Hare
later appears at the trial for the Knave of Hearts, and for a final time as
"Haigha" (which Carroll tells us is pronounced to rhyme with "mayor"), the
personal messenger to the White King in "Through the Looking-Glass".

In
SyFy's TV Miniseries 'Alice', the March Hare is represented by the character Mad
March. Mad March is a dead assassin re-animated by the Carpenter into a cyborg.
Because Mad March’s head was missing, the Carpenter fitted him with a giant
porcelain head of a rabbit. He speaks in a Brooklyn accent and sounds kind of
robotic. According to the Hatter he has "a nose for blood" and is able to track
targets by scent, following Alice and Hatter into Jaberwoki land and finding
Alice with ease. After being tortured by Mad March, the Mad Hatter kills Mad March by punching his robotic head.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Last November I wrote a series of articles about Redjac and of all the TV
characters it inhabited before it first showed up officially in 'Star Trek'. It
was a lot of fun to do and I especially enjoyed doing the research. But as
usual with my work ethic, it was far from complete.

I've got another candidate to be a host for Redjac and it fits easily into
the Toobworld timeline. And it's all thanks to Robert Bloch, who first gave us
Redjac and has long been fascinated by the legend of Jack the Ripper.

And what better place to find this version of Redjac than in an episode of
'Alfred Hitchcock Presents'?

Bloch wrote "The Big Kick", about a girl in the Beatnik scene as it was
dying down in New York City, and about the "square" who was interested in
her.

As it turned out, "Kenny" (if that was his real name) may have been a
square, but he was hardly clean cut. ("Cut" being a key word.) He framed Judy
Baker's boyfriend Mitch for a jewelry heist, which she thought was Kenny's
attempt to get her for himself.

Only thing was, he wasn't interested in her sexually as she thought. Kenny
had a different "kick" in mind for Judy.....

"See my pretty knife?"

On the Toobworld timeline for Redjac, Kenny could be squeezed in between
"The Creeper" (also from 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents') and Dr. John Carmody (from
'Thriller' and another Bloch tale - "Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper".)

BCnU!

PS:

There is no connection between Kenny and Trapper John McIntyre of
'M*A*S*H', even though both are played by Wayne Rogers. Unless of course we
consider Trap to be Kenny's older brother and that "McIntyre" is Kenny's last
name. Even though 'M*A*S*H' was broadcast later than this 'Alfred Hitchcock
Presents' episode, it took place years earlier in the Toobworld timeline. So
Trapper John couldn't be using "Kenny" as an alias, because he looked far older
back in Korea. (And would look completely different once he aged some more, as
seen in the series 'Trapper John'.)

There's one last Super Bowl commercial I wanted to address, but I needed to
do my research first on a TV show with which I had little knowledge. And those
who know me understand I do as little research as possible, so I may be off on
this theory....

First, here's the blipvert (and its prequel):

In general, I use these ads to make a connection to some TV show. But
thanks to the idiot blood-sucker who showed up in the Audi with those sun-bright
headlights, the vampires were wiped out before they could prove the connection I
had in mind:

But that's a good thing, since now my suggestion can't be
disproven....

Those vampires were partying outside the city limits of Portland, Oregon -
a traditional celebration before battle.

And who were they going to battle? A pack of werewolves.

Everybody knows vampires and werewolves are natural enemies. It's an
enmity that has been chronicled in movies like the "Twilight" and "Underground"
franchises; but more importantly is the role it plays in the TV Universe - as
seen in 'True Blood' and the two 'Being Human' incarnations being the chief
examples.

And as this was just outside Portland, Oregon, there would have been a
specific subset of werewolves they were after - the Blutbaden.

From Wikipedia:

Blutbaden (BLOOT-baad-in) are wolf-like wesen with a keen sense of smell
and great strength. The Blutbaden are very violent when in packs and are
provoked by the color red. Their sense of smell can be weakened by the herb
wolfsbane and they are vulnerable to attacks to their lower back. Variants
include the Wider Blutbad, a reformed Blutbad who abstains from the killing of
humans through a regimen of diet, drugs, and exercise. They are the mythological
basis for Big Bad Wolf. Blutbad literally means "bloodbath" in German.

Stuck in the middle of such a battle would have been the local "Grimm" - a
wesen hunter named Nick Burkhardt and his CI, a blutbaden named Monroe.

So luckily it was all moot because of that Audi.

Eventually the remnants of those vampires' belongings - some clothes, the
guitar, that Audi - would have been discovered in the woods, and may have been
brought to the attention of Nick and his partner on the police force, Hank.
Since this is a theory that would not be sanctioned by the powers that be suits at the network,
then we have to assume Nick and his Wider Blutbad "sidekick" Monroe would have
investigated what happened off-screen.

And should such a 2012 Audi with LED headlights be seen in any episode of 'Grimm' broadcast
after the Super Bowl telecast, we could claim that it was the same one from the
blipvert (probably found by a hiker. You can never trust those hikers, says the
brother of an ALDHA enthusiast......)

Steerpike might be called
the antagonist of the "Gormenghast Series", but in truth he is more of an
anti-hero; the first book for example is largely focused on him, only covering
the first year of the titular hero Titus's life. Steerpike could also be
considered an archetypal Machiavellian schemer: a highly intelligent, ruthless
character willing to justify any and all means to reach his end.

From the source:If ever he had harboured a conscience in his tough
narrow breast he had by now dug out and flung away the awkward thing - flung it
so far away that were he ever to need it again he could never find it.
High-shouldered to a degree little short of malformation, slender and adroit of
limb and frame, his eyes close-set and the colour of dried blood, he is climbing
the spiral staircase of the soul of Gormenghast, bound for some pinnacle of the
itching fancy - some wild, invulnerable eyrie best known to himself; where he
can watch the world spread out below him, and shake exultantly his clotted
wingsAnd his appearance, as described in Titus Groan:

Limb by limb, it
appeared that he was sound enough, but the sum of these several members accrued
to an unexpectedly twisted total. His face was pale like clay and save for his
eyes, mask-like. These eyes were set very close together, and were small, dark
red, and of startling concentrationSteerpike's red eyes and pallor, frequently
referred to in the text, suggest that he is an albino. However this is never
stated explicitly and he certainly does not suffer from the poor sight typical
of the condition.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

I guess it's a bit of serendipiteevee that one of my co-workers (Anthony!)
asked me last night if I ever link movies to the TV Universe. After all, in my
enthusiasm for the movie "John Carter", I wanted to just abscond with the whole
movie out of the Cineverse and keep it prisoner in Toobworld. But I got
better....

Anyhoo, the reason he asked was because he had been watching the Rock
Hudson-Doris Day rom-com "Lover Come Back". And Tony Randall's character, Pete
Ramsey, kept saying that he had to see his doctor, Dr. Melnick.

"Wasn't there a Dr. Melnick in 'The Odd Couple'?" he asked me. "Couldn't
you connect them somehow?"

Something like that is always tempting, of course, but there were too many
O'Bstacles. In the movie, Dr. Melnick was played by Richard Deacon, most famous
as Mel Cooley on 'The Dick Van Dyke Show'. On the sitcom version of Neil
Simon's play, it was Bill Quinn who portrayed Dr. Melnick. ("Felix, in the
world of ulcers, you're what's known as a carrier!")

If there's somebody out there who has no problem with mixing movies and TV
shows on a general basis, I suppose this argument could be made. The two Dr.
Melnicks could have been related - perhaps as brothers. (There were only nine
years separating Bill Quinn from Richard Deacon, and that same span should apply
to the characters they played.)

What makes it especially tempting is the fact that both actors were bald -
as if that genetic marker was a guar-auhn-tee for this theory of
relateeveety.

But if I did want to find a way to link characters played by Quinn and
Deacon together, I'd stick with their TV roles - like maybe Mr. Van Rensselaer,
who used to frequent 'Archie Bunker's Place', was a cousin or uncle to Mel
Cooley and his identical cousin Fred Rutherford.....?

By the way - here's a picture of my buddy Anthony with another pal,
Scully... and a rather odd couple of guys they happened to meet.....

You'd have to feel sorry for the lawyer representing Sacred Heart
Hospital... if you weren't too busy laughing at him.

In the 'Cougar Town' episode "A One-Story Town", Ted was passing through
Gulfhaven with his a cappella homies, on their way to an audition with Disney.
And while crashing at Jules' house (since they met last season in Hawaii), Ted
suddenly had an attack of "deja view"......

It certainly dramatized a question that has plagued televisiologists over
the decades - how come TV characters don't recognize when other characters look
exactly like people they've met before?

Actors were always being re-used on TV shows, sometimes several times over
in the same season. Back in the early days, the producers probably didn't pay
much attention to such a detail. (The same with trivial details and script
continuity.) At the time they had no conception of the future in DVDs and
syndicated reruns.

But it could make you question the eyesight of 'The Rifleman' - how could
Lucas McCain be so blind not to notice how so many visitors to North Fork looked
like Dabbs Greer or Royal Dano or John Anderson?

And why didn't 'Columbo' ever notice that a good percentage of his murder
suspects looked like Robert Culp, Jack Cassidy and Patrick McGoohan? And that's
not even taking into account all those characters who looked like Vito Scotti or
my buddy John Finnegan!

And yet they don't notice such things overall. So when a character like
Ted Buckland comes along who can see the resemblances, it must be due to them
having a touch of tele-cognizance - the knowledge, sometimes only a
sub-conscious level, that the world they live in is being televised.........

"Daniel Deronda" is a novel by George Eliot, first published in 1876. It was the last novel she completed and the only one set in the contemporary Victorian society of her day. Its mixture of social satire and moral searching, along with a sympathetic rendering of Jewish proto-Zionist and Kaballistic ideas has made it a controversial final statement of one of the greatest of Victorian novelists.

The novel has been filmed three times, once as a silent feature and twice for television.

The ward of the wealthy Sir Hugo Mallinger and hero of the novel, Deronda has a tendency to help others at a cost to himself. At the start of the novel, he has failed to win a scholarship at Cambridge because of his focus on helping a friend, has been travelling abroad, and has just started studying law. He often wonders about his birth and whether or not he is a gentleman. As he moves more and more among the world-within-a-world of the Jews of the novel he begins to identify with their cause in direct proportion to the unfolding revelations of his ancestry. Eliot used the story of Moses as part of her inspiration for Deronda. As Moses was a Jew brought up as an Egyptian who ultimately led his people to the Promised Land, so Deronda is a Jew brought up as an Englishman who ends the novel with a plan to do the same. Deronda's name presumably indicates that his ancestors lived in the Spanish city of Ronda, prior to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.

From the source:

Deronda's first thought when his eyes fell on this scene of dull, gas- poisoned absorption, was that the gambling of Spanish shepherd-boys had seemed to him more enviable:--so far Rousseau might be justified in maintaining that art and science had done a poor service to mankind. But suddenly he felt the moment become dramatic. His attention was arrested by a young lady who, standing at an angle not far from him, was the last to whom his eyes traveled. She was bending and speaking English to a middle- aged lady seated at play beside her: but the next instant she returned to her play, and showed the full height of a graceful figure, with a face which might possibly be looked at without admiration, but could hardly be passed with indifference.~"Mr. Vandernoodt, you know everybody," said Gwendolen, not too eagerly, rather with a certain languor of utterance which she sometimes gave to her clear soprano. "Who is that near the door?"

"There are half a dozen near the door. Do you mean that old Adonis in the George the Fourth wig?"

"No, no; the dark-haired young man on the right with the dreadful expression."

"Dreadful, do you call it? I think he is an uncommonly fine fellow."

"But who is he?"

"He is lately come to our hotel with Sir Hugo Mallinger."

"Sir Hugo Mallinger?"

"Yes. Do you know him?"

"No." (Gwendolen colored slightly.) "He has a place near us, but he never comes to it. What did you say was the name of that gentleman near the door?"

"Deronda--Mr. Deronda."

"What a delightful name! Is he an Englishman?"

"Yes. He is reported to be rather closely related to the baronet. You are interested in him?"

"Yes. I think he is not like young men in general."

"And you don't admire young men in general?"

"Not in the least. I always know what they will say. I can't at all guess what this Mr. Deronda would say. What _does_ he say?"

"Nothing, chiefly. I sat with his party for a good hour last night on the terrace, and he never spoke--and was not smoking either. He looked bored."

"Another reason why I should like to know him. I am always bored."

"I should think he would be charmed to have an introduction. Shall I bring it about? Will you allow it, baroness?"

"Why not?--since he is related to Sir Hugo Mallinger. It is a new _role_ of yours, Gwendolen, to be always bored," continued Madame von Langen, when Mr. Vandernoodt had moved away. "Until now you have always seemed eager about something from morning till night."

"That is just because I am bored to death. If I am to leave off play I must break my arm or my collar-bone. I must make something happen; unless you will go into Switzerland and take me up the Matterhorn."

"Perhaps this Mr. Deronda's acquaintance will do instead of the Matterhorn."

In the past when Toobworld Central has claimed a movie in the "Cineverse"
to be absorbed into the TV Universe, there was at least the basis for that
claim. Most of the time, the movie in question had its genesis in Earth
Prime-Time.

Let's utilize one of our usual examples, shall we? The 'Star Trek'
franchise - movies 1 through 11 (and the first ten minutes of the JJ Abrams
reboot) - all have the characters (and the actors who played them) from the
various TV series - the original series, 'The Next Generation', and even a cameo
by the Doctor from 'Voyager'.

Of course, once it created a new timeline, it belonged fully to the
Cineverse.

Every year I've picked a character from some other fictional universe whom
I think should be transferred into the TV Universe. In the past there was
Silver John from the Manly Wade Wellman novels, Zatanna from DC Comics, last
year's suggestion of Boiler Plate from the graphic novel, and the George
MacDonald Fraser version of Harry Flashman. (His original source material -
"Tom Brown's School Days" - has already been adapted for TV.) Of those, only
Zatanna has since crossed over into the TV dimension of 'Smallville' (and 'The
West Wing'.....)

This year, my candidate of a character to found in another medium's
universe is John Carter of Mars, created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. This is not
only a nod to the movie which opened this past weekend, but to the original
stories which will be celebrating their centennial this year. (After all, I'm
using the ASOTV showcase all year to promote literary TV characters.)

The incredible look to the movie - especially the well-articulated Thark
race - might be difficult to recreate on a TV budget. But then again, miracles
were worked down under in New Zealand when it came to the demons, monsters, and
demi-gods to be seen in 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys' and 'Xena, Warrior
Princess'.

And it wouldn't be like they'd need the entire Thark nation on the TV
screen - perhaps just one emissary to serve as a "side-kick" to John Carter. (I
would suggest Sola, the rebellious daughter of the Thark Jeddak.) Otherwise,
the TV series would be centered around the Red Men as supporting players with
the city of Helium as the base of operations.

As for recasting the leads of John Carter and Princess Dejah Thoris? The
soap operas - what's left of them - are full of Kitsch-like (Kitschian?
Kitschy?) young hunk-studs and and voluptuous loverlies like Lynn Collins ready
to be launched into a prime-time series. (It's not like Kitsch and Collins
would be willing to recreate their roles. I'm sure they've got other movie
projects already lined up, even though the opening weekend for "John Carter"
might put a damper on any more.....)

But now, here's the thing.....

I want to steal the entire movie outright, as is, and claim it for Toobworld!

I have no delusions that my wish-craft for a "John Carter" TV remake will
ever be produced. (I would call it "Barsoom!") But I still think John Carter
would be a great TV character - especially as it had that Wild West in Outer
Space vibe going for it.

So until such time - if any! - comes along when there is a TV show about
Edgar Rice Burroughs' second best-known character, I want to claim "John Carter"
as part of Toobworld.

I think it would work. Nothing from the Old West and 1880's New York
sequences contradict anything established in Earth Prime-Time previously. No
historical figures or events even played a role in it - save for mention of
Carter's past in the Confederate army during the Civil War. (And we'll get back
to that.)

As for the depiction of Barsoom, that does conflict with the established
Toobworld vision of the Red Planet. Because of 'My Favorite Martian' and the
Roddy McDowell episode from 'The Twilight Zone' plus Barry Morse and Carroll
O'Connor on 'Outer Limits', we know what the inhabitants are like.

As for the Martians from an episode of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', the
three-armed Martian from 'The Twilight Zone', as well as the Ice Warriors and
the "Waters Of Mars" microbe species from 'Doctor Who', they're just alien
invaders who used Mars as their launching pad to attack Earth. (And the same
goes for the Martians of "War Of The Worlds".)

But the movie gives us an out. When John Carter is magically transported
to Mars via that Thirn amulet, he ended up on the Mars of an alternate universe,
where it was known as "Barsoom". So he would begin in Earth Prime-Time during
the Wild Wild West years, but then go to another TV dimension. (Much like what
happened in the 'Heroes' and 'Stargate SG-1' series.)

It would be a stand-alone in the TV universe with nothing else to ground it
like the 'Star Trek' franchise had. Not even just one character as with the
"Maverick" movie. And since it takes place on another planet not even in the
main TV universe, there's no threat of Zonking the future of Toobworld.

The closest I could come with a possible link to justify the "theft" was
John Carter's background during the Civil War. And I will freely admit it's the
most tenuous of links......

Carter fought at the Battle of Five Forks. That looked like certain
victory for Johnny Reb until the last moment when the Union forces were able to
turn the tide and claim the day.

It's the Toobworld theory that the reason the Union was able to win that
battle was due to young soldier Wilton Parmenter who sneezed and abrupty
ceased defeat and reversed it to victory.

Say, that would make a great theme song!

Hey, I said the connection would be flimsy.

So like I said, this is all just wish-craft on my part. But it doesn't
hurt to dream......

UPDATE:

Since I wrote all of that on Tuesday morning, I've got it out of my
system. "John Carter" will stay where it is, in the Cineverse. But it will
remain the ideal by which I hope one day a TV series based on the Barsoom
stories will be judged.

Father Brown is a fictional character created by English novelist G. K.
Chesterton, who stars in 52 short stories, later compiled in five books.
Chesterton based the character on Father John O'Connor (1870–1952), a parish
priest in Bradford who was involved in Chesterton's conversion to Catholicism in
1922. The relationship was recorded by O'Connor in his 1937 book "Father Brown
on Chesterton".

Father Brown is a short, stumpy Catholic priest, "formerly of Cobhole in
Essex, and now working in London," with shapeless clothes and a large umbrella,
and uncanny insight into human evil.

He makes his first appearance in the
story "The Blue Cross" and continues through the five volumes of short stories,
often assisted by the reformed criminal M.Hercule Flambeau. Father Brown also
appears in a story "The Donnington Affair" that has a rather curious history. In
the October 1914 issue of the obscure magazine "The Premier", Sir Max Pemberton
published the first part of the story, inviting a number of detective story
writers, including Chesterton, to use their talents to solve the mystery of the
murder described. Chesterton and Father Brown's solution followed in the
November issue. The story was first reprinted in the "Chesterton Review" (Winter
1981, pp. 1–35) and in the book "Thirteen Detectives".

Unlike the more
famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown's methods tend to be
intuitive rather than deductive. He explains his method in 'The Secret of Father
Brown':

"You see, I had murdered them all myself.... I had planned out
each of the crimes very carefully. I had thought out exactly how a thing like
that could be done, and in what style or state of mind a man could really do it.
And when I was quite sure that I felt exactly like the murderer myself, of
course I knew who he was."

Father Brown's abilities are also considerably
shaped by his experience as a priest and confessor. In "The Blue Cross", when
asked by Flambeau, who has been masquerading as a priest, how he knew of all
sorts of criminal "horrors," he responds: "Has it never struck you that a man
who does next to nothing but hear men's real sins is not likely to be wholly
unaware of human evil?" He also states a reason why he knew Flambeau was not a
priest: "You attacked reason. It's bad theology." And indeed, the stories
normally contain a rational explanation of who the murderer was and how Brown
worked it out.

Father Brown always emphasises rationality: some stories,
such as "The Miracle of Moon Crescent", "The Oracle of the Dog", "The Blast of
the Book" and "The Dagger With Wings", poke fun at initially skeptical
characters who become convinced of a supernatural explanation for some strange
occurrence, while Father Brown easily sees the perfectly ordinary, natural
explanation. In fact, he seems to represent an ideal of a devout, yet
considerably educated and "civilised" clergyman. This can be traced to the
influence of neo-scholastic thought on Chesterton.

Father Brown is
characteristically humble, and is usually rather quiet; when he does talk, he
almost always says something profound. Although he tends to handle crimes with a
steady, realistic approach, he believes in the supernatural as the greatest
reason of all.

From the source:Among the black and breaking groups in that distance
was one especially black which did not break--a group of two figures clerically
clad. Though they seemed as small as insects, Valentin could see that one of
them was much smaller than the other. Though the other had a student's stoop and
an inconspicuous manner, he could see that the man was well over six feet high.
He shut his teeth and went forward, whirling his stick impatiently. By the time
he had substantially diminished the distance and magnified the two black figures
as in a vast microscope, he had perceived something else; something which
startled him, and yet which he had somehow expected. Whoever was the tall
priest, there could be no doubt about the identity of the short one. It was his
friend of the Harwich train, the stumpy little cure of Essex whom he had warned
about his brown paper parcels.

I chose Father Brown for today because I watched "The Detective" the day
before. This 1954 movie starred Alec Guinness as the crime-solving cleric with
Peter Finch and the loverly Joan Greenwood who had the sexiest voice I have ever
heard.

It made for an interesting follow-up to having seen "John Carter" in the
theater, since both characters can be found in the Wold Newton Universe, one of
the inspirations for the Toobworld Dynamic.

Kenneth More's portrayal was the second time Father Brown showed up in an
English production. But Mervyn Johns played the role in a single episode of a
TV series ('Detective') while More provided a full series. That tips the scales
in his favor, against the usual rules of Toobworld Central.

There was a German productions of Chesterton's stories, but we can stick
that into the German-influenced TV dimension.

And then there was a pilot movie broadcast with Barnard Hughes as an
American Father Brown in a modern setting which wasn't received favorably enough
to become a series. This can remain in Earth Prime-Time because there were
enough changes made to differentiate his character from that of the one played
by More.

Every so often, I like to dedicate the ASOTV showcase to one of my friends. Today's entry is going out to Father Robert Tucker of Litchfield, Connecticut, who once spared a quarter for an old altar boy.....

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

On Monday, I was ambushed by Ivan Shreve of "Thrilling Days
Of Yesteryear" (Link to the left, Academy members) with the 7x7 Award. And by
"ambushed" I just mean that I was surprised by the honorific. I really am
delighted to receive it.

Of course it came with conditions. These awards always
do! (Why is it that it's only in the blogosphere that they make you work for
your award?)

Tell everyone something that no one else knows
about.

There's always some small secret in everybody's life, not
just mine, that may not be general knowledge, but there's somebody somewhere who
knows it. I'm kind of like "Zelig" in that I have a different persona for
whichever group I'm currently hanging out with; it's been like that since high
school, when I could easily gravitate out of the circle of nerds to hang with
the jocks.

So I don't think there's any one thing that no one else
knows about me, not even my fascination for Little People (the men as actors,
the women for other reasons) - and now everybody knows that one, not just my
co-workers!

Gee. In declining to answer, I've probably answered. How
does that happen? LOL

"I’m supposed to talk about some of the past posts here at
the blog that fit into seven different categories." That's according to Ivan,
and I suppose it was part of the original mandate for this award.

And like Ivan, I'm mainly going to focus on certain regular
features of the blog rather than individual posts, because I think the case can
be better made in each category when I look at the subject as a whole.

Most Beautiful Piece:

The yearly "Hat Squad" memorial - It never fails to anger
me when I see those memorial tributes on awards shows and in magazines and
newspaper articles at year's end which salute those in show business who left
this world in the previous year. Invariably, they always leave out somebody who
deserved the accolade. (This year's glaring omission at the Oscars? Harry
Morgan. Don't get me started!)

I used to do detailed tips of the hat (ergo "The Hat
Squad") to each individual contributor to the TV Universe, but I surprised even
myself when I suddenly developed something akin to a life and I no longer had
time to do those. (Well, except for a few who meant a lot to me - Patrick
McGoohan, of course, and most recently, Davy Jones.) Instead I just did the
best I could in catching the obituaries for those with TV connections - even
from all over the world - no matter how slight so that I could have a much more
complete list by the end of the year.

So maybe these "Hat Squad" posts are more functional than
beautiful, but it's nice to know these people will be remembered. And isn't
that a beautiful thing?

It's the least they deserve for all the joy they have
brought into our homes......

Most Helpful Piece:

That would be "Anniversary Schmaltz", in which I gave a
short description of the various tags to the televisiological pieces I write.
Just in case there are Toobworld terms which new visitors don't understand. (I
tend to make up words, my own Toobspeak.) I probably should look into making
this a permanent link in the sidebar....

Most Popular Piece:

The "Who's On First?" yearly 24 hour marathon. (It's held on New Year's Day. It's all about 'Doctor Who'. Who's On First - get it?

I'd say this was a given, considering how many "Whovians"
are out there in "E-Space". And best of all, it's so easy to put together!
Because of the nature of the show - covering so much territory in time and space
and utilizing every genre known to Toob, the source of inspiration is
inexhaustible. (On the other hand, my one time only 24 hour marathon for 'The
Dick Van Dyke Show' was a killer!)

Most Controversial Piece:

I'll have to cheat and go back to the days before the Inner Toob blog, back
to the antedeluvian days of yore at "The Tubeworld Dynamic". That was the blog
I ran about this same topic, only changing it on a monthly basis. (It's just as
well AOL screwed me over and disabled the easy-to-use AOLPress function so that
it was impossible to do the site anymore. A blog is much better in handling all
of the new televisiogy tidbits that come out every day.)

Not long after the attack on the World Trade Center, I posted a "splainin"
as to why the Twin Towers had to fall in Toobworld as well, and why the
"televersion" of Superman couldn't save the buildings or the people. (He was
already dead.) If I'm not mistaken, I also posited a few TV characters who
might have been in the buildings, as a reason why we never see them in their old
shows anymore.

I got a few responses that it was in poor taste and that no one should ever
use the 9/11 attacks for entertainment value. (One person wrote to the NY Daily
News and demanded that no one ever use the tragedy in a movie.)

Since then, we've seen it used as the backdrop for movies and for TV shows
which have all added to the victims list in much the same way as happened with
depictions of the Titanic tragedy.

I hate to talk about this so close to the First of April, because that
would mean readers might not be caught unawares, but every year I enjoy putting
together the April Fool's post. Oftentimes, there are a couple of posts - one
big and flashy which takes away notice from the smaller, subtler piece.
Hopefully.

Two years ago I may have posted my crowning achievement when it comes to
April Fool's Day. I wrote up a very detailed history of 'The Frank Morgan Show'
which lasted only for a few episodes (due to the death of the star.) It
contained a description of the premise, as well as pictures from the series,
plus an episode guide, info about the co-stars and their characters, guest
stars, the works. As you probably figured out - no such show existed.

The next day I received an email from the archive historian of the Screen
Actors Guild, wanting more information about this series (of which no prints
survived, that helped the illusion.) Apparently she had been doing research via
Google on the actor after interviewing Gloria Stuart for the archives and my
post was quite near the top.

In a follow-up email, after I confessed the ruse, she said that she had a
feeling that it had been an April Fool's gag considering the date it was
posted. And that I made one "fatal" mistake - one of the pictures I used was of
Frank's brother Ralph. I would have preferred perfection (say that ten times
fast!), but I also knew it would probably slip past a lot of other readers.
(But not you, of course!) I just re-read the piece and I see a few other mistakes I made. But still and all, I am proud of it.

Most Underrated Piece:

The As Seen On TV Showcase & The Toobworld Tiddlywinkydinks

I no longer do the Daily Tiddlywinkydinks (or "Twd" as opposed to the TwD
which is the Toobworld Dynamic) because looking up historical events and their
TV applications was a lot of hard work. I'm not here for hard work. And much
of the Daily Twd was covered anyway with the As Seen On TV showcase. That is an
examination of historical figures (including celebrities and newsmakers) as
played by actors in either TV movies, TV show episodes, or even in commercials.

This year we changed the focus to literary characters as seen on TV, just
so I don't run out of historical figures. Let the fields lie fallow as it
were......

There's a new one every day, but I never seem to get much feedback on
these. I realize commenting on blogs isn't for everybody, but every so often
I'd like to know if it's worth it.

This was a one time only 24 hour celebration of the greatest sitcom ever,
in connection to Ivan's call to arms for the fiftieth anniversary of the show
back in October. I've been doing a monthly addition to this oeuvre since then,
leading up to this coming October to make it a year long salute. But it's not a
show like 'Doctor Who' which lends itself to an all day extravaganza.

There were some clunkers, but it was like the jokes in 'Airplane!' - wait a
bit and a better one will come along soon enough.

And speaking of Frank Morgan, I was ready to bust my buttons when I was
complimented on these DVDS@50 posts recently with
the added suggestion that I should gather them all together for a book. (Minus
the clunkers of course!)

So, I guess that's it. I hope you liked that trip down Memory Lane with
this inane mammary. (Did you know that the anagram for Toby O'Brien is "Inert
Booby"?)

And thanks again to Ivan of "Thrilling Days Of Yesteryear" for the
recognition.....

Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, is a character in the
Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist. Dodger is a pickpocket, so called for his
skill and cunning in that respect. As a result he has become the leader of the
gang of child criminals, trained by the elderly Fagin. He becomes Oliver's
closest friend (although he betrays him when Oliver is mistakenly caught) and he
tries to make him a pickpocket, but soon realizes that Oliver won't, and feels
sorry for him, saying "What a pity ain't a prig!" He also has a close
relationship with Charley Bates. Ultimately the Dodger is caught with a stolen
silver snuff box and presumably sent to a penal colony in Australia (only
alluded to in the novel). The Dodger chooses to consider himself a "victim of
society," roaring in the courtroom "I am an Englishman; where are my rights?"
The judge has little patience with the Dodger's posturing, and orders him out of
the courtroom immediately after the jury convicts him of the theft.

The
Artful Dodger, though a pickpocket, is not a heartless character. He has a great
respect for Fagin, to whom he delivers all of the pickpocketing spoils without
question.

Hayes was about 27 in this 1962 TV series, and looked older. But it was
the first TV production of the Dickens novel, so he stands as its Dodger.

With this next entry, the Dodger is transported to Australia for the penal
colony, but he escapes to find new adventures Down Under. As he was now a recastaway, this Dodger ends up in an alternate TV dimension.....

JACK DAWKINS

aka

THE ARTFUL DODGER

AS SEEN IN:

'The Escape Of The Artful Dodger'

AS PLAYED BY:

Luke O'Loughlin

From the source:

He was a snub-nosed, flat-browed, common-faced boy enough; and as dirty a
juvenile as one would wish to see; but he had about him all the airs and manners
of a man. He was short of his age: with rather bow-legs, and little, sharp, ugly
eyes. His hat was stuck on the top of his head so lightly, that it threatened to
fall off every moment--and would have done so, very often, if the wearer had not
had a knack of every now and then giving his head a sudden twitch, which brought
it back to its old place again. He wore a man's coat, which reached nearly to
his heels. He had turned the cuffs back, half-way up his arm, to get his hands
out of the sleeves: apparently with the ultimated view of thrusting them into
the pockets of his corduroy trousers; for there he kept them. He was,
altogether, as roystering and swaggering a young gentleman as ever stood four
feet six, or something less, in the bluchers.

'Hullo, my covey! What's
the row?'

The boy who addressed this inquiry to the young wayfarer, was
about his own age: but one of the queerest looking boys that Oliver had even
seen. He was a snub-nosed, flat-browed, common-faced boy enough; and as dirty a
juvenile as one would wish to see; but he had about him all the airs and manners
of a man. He was short of his age: with rather bow-legs, and little, sharp, ugly
eyes. His hat was stuck on the top of his head so lightly, that it threatened to
fall off every moment—and would have done so, very often, if the wearer had not
had a knack of every now and then giving his head a sudden twitch, which brought
it back to its old place again. He wore a man's coat, which reached nearly to
his heels. He had turned the cuffs back, half-way up his arm, to get his hands
out of the sleeves: apparently with the ultimate view of thrusting them into the
pockets of his corduroy trousers; for there he kept them. He was, altogether, as
roystering and swaggering a young gentleman as ever stood four feet six, or
something less, in the bluchers.

Monday, March 12, 2012

The "Gormenghast" series comprises three novels by Mervyn Peake, featuring
Castle Gormenghast, and Titus Groan, the title character of the first
book.

The series consists of three novels, "Titus Groan" (1946),
"Gormenghast" (1950), and "Titus Alone" (1959). A novella, "Boy in Darkness"
(1956), tells the story of a brief adventure by the young Titus away from
Gormenghast, although it does not explicitly name the castle.

Peake had intended to write a series of books following "Titus Groan"
through his life, as well as detailing his relationship with Gormenghast. At
least two other books, tentatively titled "Titus Awakes" and "Gormenghast
Revisited", were planned; but Parkinson's disease and Peake's ensuing death at
age 57 prevented him from writing down more than a few hundred words and ideas
for further volumes. Only three pages of "Titus Awakes" were coherently written,
and these appear in the Overlook Press edition of "Titus Alone" (ISBN
0-87951-427-2) and in the omnibus volume (ISBN 0-87951-628-3).

In the
1970s, Peake's widow Maeve Gilmore wrote her version of "Titus Awakes", which
she called "Search without End". The Peake family rediscovered this novel at the
end of 2009 and it was published by Overlook Press as "Titus Awakes: The Lost
Book of Gormenghast". to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Peake's
birth.

In 2000, the BBC and the PBS station WGBH of Boston produced a
miniseries, titled 'Gormenghast', based on the first two books of the series.
The cast included Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Steerpike and Christopher Lee as Mr.
Flay.

'Gormenghast' is a four-episode television serial based on the
"Gormenghast" series by Mervyn Peake. It was produced and broadcast by the
BBC.

First broadcast in early 2000, this BBC serial of the celebrated
modernist fantasy by Mervyn Peake was designed for an early evening time-slot in
much the same vein as the earlier adaptations of "The Chronicles of Narnia".
Although Peake has left numerous drawings concerning his work, the creators
preferred a new approach that injected a good deal more colour and humour into
what is, on the page, a very dark and exhausted world; a place of shadows, dust,
rust and nettles.

The BBC conception was based on the idea that Peake's
early life in China had influenced the creation of Gormenghast; thus, the castle
in the series resembles the Forbidden City in Beijing as well as the holy city
of Lhasa in Tibet. This idea has basic validity, particularly as regards the
'bright carvings' of the wood-working outer dwellers, but purists might consider
the entire production rather lighter than the books, which author Anthony
Burgess regarded as a great classic of the twentieth century and an allegory of
the two World Wars.

I am not yet convinced that this epic belongs in Earth Prime-Time. And should it remain in the same dimension as the main Toobworld, I'm tempted to place it off-world - on the twin planet of Mondas, along with the series 'Game Of Thrones', 'Beastmaster', and 'The Twilight Zone' episode of "Number Twelve Looks Just Like You"......

Out of all the TV characters to be found in the Tele-Folks Directory, it
might seem surprising to learn that Emmett Clark, Mayberry's Mr. Fix-It, is a
future candidate for the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame. And that doesn't even
depend upon the following theory of "relateeveety".....

By the way, this is all conjecture.....

Emmett Clark had an older half brother from his mother's first marriage.
His name was Sammy Morrissey and he was close to his younger half-brother when
they were younger. They even went to a locksmith school together, but with
different life goals in mind - Emmett wanted the expertise to expand his skills,
so that he could fulfill his dream of opening his own fix-it shop. He chose to
do so in Mayberry, North Carolina.

Sammy Morrissey, on the other hand, used the newfound knowledge of
locksmithing to help him become a better cracksman - that is, a
safe-cracker.

Sammy was good at his criminal endeavors, but not so good that he never got
caught. He was eventually arrested and sent to prison. That time away
prevented him from seeing his daughter Dorothy grow into adulthood, but she
never stopped loving him. On the other hand, Emmett must have gravely
disapproved of his brother's sinful ways, because he never mentioned Sammy or
even acknowledge his existence to his friends in Mayberry. (Gee, I wonder
why.....)

Eventually Sammy Morrissey got out of prison and he was approached by an
advertising agency (rival to Sterling Cooper and McMann & Tate) to endorse
their client's new "burglar-proof" safe. I'll be posting the video in the next
post so that you can see what happened.

Meanwhile, his brother Emmett lived out his life with more low-key pursuits in Mayberry (although he did entertain the notion to open up a new business in Greenwood, North Carolina - as seen in 'The New Andy Griffith Show'.)

Like I said, Emmett Clark has enough TV credits to qualify for entry into
the Hall of Fame, but this makes for a nice embellishment to his
stature....

Just An Old Cowhand On The TiVo Grande

As the Trickster once said, "Reality is boring, that's why I change it whenever I can."
I'm just "The Man Who Viewed Too Much", and "Inner Toob" is a blog exploring and celebrating the 'reality' of an alternate universe in which everything that ever happened on TV actually takes place.
Most of my theories about the TV Universe come from thinking inside the box and thus can't be proven. But I've never been one to shy away from a tall tale.....
Remember: "The more you watch, the more you've seen!"